Virtual
by heartlessangel124
Summary: Cybertron, the newest Virtual Reality game. A place where you could be who you wanted to be. A place where you could go on an adventure from the safety of your own home. Or at least, that's what May thought, until she was dragged into a war between two factions fighting for 'peace'
1. Not Again

**Disclaimer: Transformers does not belong to me, OC's on the other hand do.**

* * *

"Your such a prowler May! All you ever do is sneak around and scare people!"

Huffing, I readjust my grip on my books, "It's not my fault you're not more aware of your surroundings." I glance at my watch, eyes widening "Shit! I'm late for work, are we still on for tonight?" looking towards Anne with an expectant look. Anne groaned.

"Do I have to? You know I'm horrible at those games of yours."

"Hey, you were the one who asked me to get you your headgear together. Don't complain." I rolled my eyes. She was such a flak. But then again she wasn't as much of a gamer as I was. "Look, if you really don't want to join me then don't, I can just return all the gear and get a full refund. I'm sure my boss wouldn't mind."

"I…." She looked unsure, maybe second guessing herself? She tends to do that a lot.

"Look, forget about it. I gotta go." Spinning on my heel I walk over to my motorcycle, putting my books into one of the saddlebags, I throw on my jacket and helmet before mounting my black steed and taking off.

* * *

The library was only about a 20 minute drive from the store I worked at, so it wasn't long before I was tearing into the lot and parking my bike in one of the employee spots around the back. I hated being late, I knew I should have left earlier, but _no_ , Anne just _had_ to check out those books from the library. Why the hell couldn't she have done that on her own you might be asking, well that's because she's incapable of doing anything remotely simple on her own. _Ever._

Running inside I throw my jacket and helmet in my locker before rushing into the front. Only to run face first into a hard chest. I would have fallen on the floor if not for the hand that grabbed my arm to keep me steady. "Easy there kid! What's the hurry?" I looked up to see the face of my boss, Arron Fox.

"God, sorry Arron. I was running late and.." I started but he held up a hand, stopping me from speaking further.

"It's fine May, don't worry about it. Since the day you started working here you've never once been late." He gave me a gentle smile, eyes filled with amusement. I gave out a small sigh looking up at him in dismay.

"Still, I should have kept a better eye on the time." I despised being late. It was so unprofessional.

"Well what's done is done, so you might as well get to the front and start manning the cash register." His eyes still shinning with silent amusement, while his mouth was set in a stern a firm line. I barely contained the urge to roll my eyes at him as he moved aside to give me room to walk past.

As I moved toward the register at the back of the store, I took in the many shelves lined with dozens of games, consoles, and reference guides. Arron was the owner of this small game store. But that didn't mean that we didn't get a nice amount of customers. This place was well known for getting all of the newest up and coming games.

Especially the new Virtual Reality game, Cybertron. It was supposed to be this new war game. The first of its kind, where the player could pick their race, personalize their features, and pretty much have a separate life. It had just been released to the public last night. What made this game stand out even more among the rest was the sleep mode. It was a setting designed to allow players to continue playing the game, while they slept.

This was aimed more so toward the older generations. Seeing as how adults were usually too busy with their jobs or daily lives to actually have time to really enjoy playing games. Although the downside to this was that the hard core gamers would use this to play 24/7. Keeping this in mind, the creators of the game made a failsafe. If the gamer wasn't playing in sleep mode inside the game for longer than 5 hours, the game would log you out, and keep you out for about an hour and a half. To give the player time to eat and walk around. It was actually really smart considering the fact that the younger generations tended to play VRs for extended periods of time with no intervals in between every hour played.

I was startled out of my thoughts as the door chimed, signaling our first customer of the morning. I glanced toward the entrance, only to pause when I saw who it was. Closing my eyes I gave a long suffering sigh as I prayed to God for patience. "You've got to be _kidding_ me."

"Aww come on sweat heart, aren't you happy to see me?" A smooth, deep voice responded from right in front of me. Maybe if I kept my eyes closed he would disappear. I gave it about 4 more seconds before taking a peek, yep he was still there. His shades were pushed up on the top of his head, giving me a clear view of the forest green eyes in front of me.

I scowled, turning my face away in disgust. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him pout. A large hand smacked the back of his head. Crying out in pain he grabbed the wounded appendage and ducked for cover away from his attacker.

"Honestly Jax, do you have to be such a pill every time we come here?" Looking back I finally noticed that Jax had not come into the store on his own. The corners of my mouth upturned, it was always good to know that Richard was here with Jax, at least then I knew that I could work in relative peace. Jax seemed to gain too much enjoyment out of pestering me while I worked. Richard turned his glare away from Jax to look at me, a soft smile forming on his face. He was a decent fellow, mid thirties, and a brilliant doctor to boot. Not to mention that he was also a close friend of Arron's. "May, would you mind letting Arron know that we're here to see him?" Nodding I walked towards the break area in the back.

Arron was sitting at the small coffee table while he attempted to fill out some paperwork.

"Hey Arron, Richard and Jax are here to see you." He grunted in response. I snorted a little, he only ever did that when was deep in thought. _He must be trying to pay his bills I suspect._ Walking back out to the front I relayed to Richard that Arron was working on some paperwork, but he was more than welcome to join him in the break area if he wanted. Giving his thanks he strolled into the back, most likely to give Arron a hand with all those papers.

Walking towards the cash register, I noticed that Jax was nowhere to be seen. My eyes narrowed, where on earth did he go? It's not like he could have gone anywhere, although, considering the fact that I was used to seeing Arron's towering form walking through the aisles as helped out the customers, I was unused to having to actually search for people here.

I glanced around the store again, where could he have gone?

"Hey sweat heart!"

"EEK!" Spinning around I once again ran into a hard chest. Only this time it wasn't Arron I had run into. It was Jax. The asshole had snuck up behind me. His hands wrapped themselves around my arms to keep me from falling over. Grabbing onto his shirt out of reflex I took notice of how close he was to me. Too close for comfort actually.

He grinned, God I hated it when he did that. Stepping away I smacked his arm. He barely even flinched. "What the hell Jax! You know I hate it when you do that!" He just kept on smiling at me. His eyes shining with a strange emotion I had started to see reflected in them quite often nowadays.

Folding my arms I continued to glare at him. "What is it? I thought you were here to see Arron, not to scare the crap out of me."

Placing a hand over his chest, his eyes laughing, a smirk on his face, "You wound me sweat heart, we haven't seen each other in so long I just had to come over. Seeing Arron is only an upside." He winked at me, another smile upon his face. I huffed, walking back to the register, my steps quick to put some distance between the two of us.

"Whatever, I have work to do." He opened his mouth to respond only to be cut off by the door chime. His mouth clamped shut as we both looked toward the door. It was a few teenagers, odd seeing as how it was a school day and they should have been in class. But oh well, business was business. Jax turned so his back was towards me and leaned against the counter, a small smirk on his face as he did so.

He stayed like that for the next 3 and a half hours, customers passing through in a steady flow. Jax _still_ leaning against the counter smirking at me every so often, only for me to glare in response. It was like a never ending game, he would smirk, I would glare back, his smirk got bigger, my glare produced more venom.

It was then that the back door opened to allow both Arron and Richard out into the store. Only to pause when they saw us having our little stare off. Richard cleared his throat, gaining our attention.

"You guys having fun over there?" The bastard had a smug grin on his face while Arron covered his mouth with his hand, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. I snorted.

"What makes you think that we're having fun?"

"Well for one you two _are_ standing very close together, one would think he was about to kiss you or something." My lips pulled downward as look back at Jax to see what he was talking about, only to reel back when I finally realized how close our faces were.

I reeled backwards, more than positive that my face resembled that of a tomato at this point. Jax glared at Richard, whose only response was a triumphant grin. Arron couldn't contain himself anymore, his hand coming away as he laughed, tears falling from his eyes as he did so.

Glancing at the clock behind me, hoping I would be able to make a run for the exit soon. I was relieved to see that my shift was over. I shuffled out from behind the register and toward the back door, not noticing the way that Jax's shoulders dropped or the dismayed look on that formed on his face.

"I'moffI'llseeyoutommorowbye!" pushing past Richard I practically ran towards my locker.

"May!"

"What the hell man!?"

Ignoring the calls I shrugged on my jacket, slipped on my helmet and peeled out onto the street, racing for home.


	2. Creation

My face was still burning when I reach my apartment. Pulling my bike into my designated spot, I slumped forward. Head resting on the handlebars as I groaned. I hated it when they teased me like that. Slipping off my bike I walked up the stairs to my apartment, 221B. I put away my gear as I entered the small 1 room 1 bath apartment. Sighing I collapsed onto the couch in front of the TV. What do to, what to do. I jolted upright, sprinting to my room to grab my VR headset and a small box that I had left on my nightstand the day before. Cybertron, I squealed in excitement, I can get started on my profile before anyone else and not have to worry about fighting others for a good name!

I removed the chip that was currently residing in my VR before replacing it with Cybertron. I could feel my toes curling in anticipation. Let's do this!

Putting on the headset I moved to lay down on the couch. It would never get old, the feeling of one's mind being pulled away into a new world.

Before me was a white room, I could hear a deep drum sounding off in the distance somewhere. Words appeared before me.

 **Welcome to Cybertron, please begin creating your character by choosing a mode of transportation:**

 **-Ground**

 **-Air**

Mode of transportation? As in how I'm going to be moving around? Air sounded awesome, but…I was scared of heights so probably not the best choice. Moving my hand to hover in front of the Ground option. I could hear violins added in with the drums. The words disappeared and we're replaced.

 **Please choose your city of origin:**

 **-Kaon**

 **-Praxis**

 **-Iacon**

 **-Tarn**

 **-Polyhex**

I looked at each option with interest, these would determine my starting point I the game. I raised a finger to my chin, contemplating which one to pick from.

"Hmmm"

I squinted at each of the options…I knew for a fact that I didn't want to start in Kaon or Tarn, maybe Iacon? No no that would be too popular. That left Praxis and Polyhex. Which one, which one. My hand started to rise up to Polyhex when I paused. My face hardened, hand moving to hover in front of my choice. The words disappeared. The music had gained another instrument at this point, it sounded like trumpets or some kind of wish do instrument had been added to the mix. More words appeared.

 **Please specify your gender:**

 **-Mech**

 **-Femme**

I paused, Mech, so male. Femme for female then. That made me laugh a little. My hand hovered in front of the Femme option. As the room around me darkened out of existence, the music took a turn for the dramatic.

A figure appeared before me, rather plain and bland in my opinion. It was sleek and thin. More words appeared next to the figure.

You may now begin designing your character.

I looked back towards the figure. This would be me, a new me. I got to work. Making the legs a little longer, the bust smaller, Don't need those getting in the way, I added a sharpness to the fingers, giving them clawed tips. If I'm ever caught without a weapon at least I'll be able to defend myself. I squinted at the form before me. The face looked like me but…no I'll leave it alone. But maybe.. raising my hand I raised the 'cheekbones' a little, going for a more formal look. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something on my characters back. My eyes widened.

Doors, she has wings made out of doors! I gave the wings a smoother look. I didn't like the bulkiness of them. Better to make them less of a target if possible. Taking a step back to admire my work I grinned. She looked sleek and graceful. Intimidating and powerful. My heart swelled with pride.

Now for some color. Turning to the color wheel I contemplated what I had to work with. Did I want to go flashy? Or did I was thinking to hide in the shadows? My eyes narrowed. This could take a while.

… _Annnd done!_ Standing back to admire my work, I paused, _somethings still missing..but what?_ I concentrated on my character, the frame was black and white with golden eyes, glancing up at the symbol atop her head I was suddenly struck with an idea. Going back to the color wheel I selected a deep red, vibrant in color to capture ones attention, but not florescent to the point of being obnoxious.

Taking in the final product with glee I let my hand hover over the **Continue** button that floated behind me.

 **Save changes and continue: Yes or No?**

I hover over yes, eager to begin my adventure. The words form another sentence

 **Please enter your Cybertronian's Designation in order to complete your character.**

… _Shit, nows the hard part._ I looked back at my creation. What name did she deserve? Something mysterious and mystical? Or maybe I should go for intimidating and regal? _No. She's me, she needs a name that means something to me. But what? I can't just call her May 2.0 that just doesn't fit right. Wait a minute..what was it that Anne called me this morning? That's right, she called me a prowler._ I turned the name over in my head, grimacing, did I really want to be known as Prowler? People would think I was a pervert or something. _Hold on,_ _Prowl_ _er, Prowl._

I gave a soft smile "Prowl, I like it. It suits you." Turning back to the keypad I hover my hand over the letters typing in my characters..no **Prowl's** name.

 **P. R. O. W. L.**

 **Is this the Designation you wish to choose?**

 **Yes or No?**

I don't even hesitate, hand instantly going to hover over yes. The words disappeared, leaving me in the dark room with only Prowl for company. Looking toward her I cannot help but admire her, a creature with an air of mystery, but at the same time she appeared unyielding. Unmovable, a force to be reckoned with. A new adventure awaited me in this world. New friends. A new **me**. A voice echoed from the darkness of the room. Light and soft, like that of a mother.

 **Young spark, it is time for you to leave the safety of the All Spark, to join your brothers and sisters on Cybertron and to begin your life. Please enter your new frames' spark chamber. Your destiny awaits.**

A rumble sounded behind me. Turning to look at Prowl's I noticed that I was no longer looking at her, or at least I was, just not her face. More like her knee. Looking up I noticed that Prowl's was now _much_ taller than when I had started customizing her. She gracefully bent down hand extended towards me, palm up. I looked at her face, uncertain.

Taking a careful step onto her hand, she curled her fingers around me, brining me to her chest as she stood. There was a hissing as Prowl's chest plates pulled apart. Opening up to cylinder, big enough for me to fit into if I wanted. That too opened, revealing it to be hollow on the inside. _This must be the chamber the system was talking about._

Stepping inside I turned around to watch the lid close shut. More hissing, I could only assume her chest was closing. Then nothing. Just darkness. There was a humming,

 **Initiating Systems Startup**

 **Process Complete**

I blink, looking around. The room had changed again, one of the walls had changed into a mirror. Carefully walking towards it I was able to look at myself, well Prowl, or myself. Augh! You know own what I mean! It was odd, looking at a face so similar to my own only for it be made of metal and not flesh. Lifting a delicate had I touched my face, careful of my now very sharp fingertips. I smiled again, the new me. Prowl.

A door shined behind me, beckoning me forth. Smirking I walked towards it. _Look out Cybertron, here I come._


	3. Getting Started

Entering a new reality is always an odd feeling. The displacement as the world around you shifts. I couldn't open my eyes, but I was laying on the ground. My wings twitched, feeling the air shift. _Interesting_.

I could hear voices speaking around me. But I couldn't make out what they were saying. It was like everything was underwater. I felt someone shaking my shoulder. It felt like ages before my eyes finally opened.

I was in a cell of some kind. I looked at the hand on my shoulder. Following the arm attached to it I came face to face with my cell mate.

Deep blue eyes set in a gruff face. He was big and intimidating. Arms like canons and muscles for days. Or at least I think they were muscles, it was hard to tell underneath all that armor. The lighting in the room wasn't that great either.

"You alrigh' kid?" His voice was gruff, but quiet. I couldn't see any ill intent from his face, only concern. Shaking my head in order to clear my thoughts I looked back at the man.

"I'm alright, my heads just a little foggy." I struggled to my feet, my limbs didn't seem to want to listen to what I wanted them to do. Wings flaring to try and catch my balance, that was going to take some getting used to. The man hovered next to me, offering a hand in case I needed it.

"You've got quite the dent in that helm of yur's kid, I'm not surprised yur processors slow to start up." Raising a hand to my 'helm' I felt around for the offending dent that supposedly was the cause for my disoriented state.

Sure enough, there was a dent. Decently sized from what I could tell. Letting my hand fall I looked back towards the giant man. "Where the hell are we anyway?"

"We're in a Decepticon base kid, not the best place for somebot as young as you are." He looked me over, as if sizing me up. "What's your designation anyway?"

"..Prowl, you?"

"Ironhide" He grunted. He took a cursory look around our cell. "We need to find a way outta here befo' the guards come back."

"What do you have in mind?" I look towards the opening of out cell. What appeared to be a wall of red light separating us from the hallway.

 _Odd, those lights have to be what's keeping us in here if Ironhide hasn't walked out on his own already. Lasers maybe? Only thing I can think of that would be able to do that. Must need a power source of some kind to..._

"You OK kid?" Jumping I turned to see Ironhide peering down at my face.

"Sorry, just getting lost in thought trying to figure out how to get past the door."

"That's getting lost in thought? It looked like you were trying to turn it off through sheer force of will or somethin'." _Sadly my friend, a Jedi I am not_.

Turning back to the wall I tried to collect my thoughts once more. That door needed to be able to pull power to operate itself. _But does each door run off of the same generator or an individual one?  
_  
"Hey Ironhide? Do these doors share the same power source or do they have their own?"

"If it were two or three cells, I would have said a single generator..but this place is massive. So I would assume they would have dozens. So...individual I'd suspect."

"And the wiring? How do they connect to each power source?" He frowned at that.

"The connectors would have to be pretty close to the cells considering how many are packed down here. What exactly are you tryin' to get at kid?"

"The wiring Ironhide! That's how we'll get out. We cut the power source and we turn off the lasers." Realization finally seemed to dawn on his face. "If each power source is as close together as you say they are, then ours has to be somewhere in this very cell. We just have to look for the wires."

We started turning this way and that, searching. I looked along each wall, the floor, nothing! _Wait a second_... looking up at the ceiling I found what we were looking for. It was small enough to go unnoticed, only noticeable to those who knew what to look for to if it needed repairs. _Bingo_.

"Hey Ironhide, I think I found it. Can you give me a lift? I'm too short to reach it on my own." He grunted, while gently grabbing onto my waist as he proceeded to lift me up onto his shoulder. _Good thing my claws are so sharp, otherwise we'd be screwed._

Swiftly cutting the wire, the door to our cell was deactivated. As Ironhide realized me from his hold he peaked out into the hallway. Looking back at me he nodded, the coast was clear.

* * *

It was slow going, making our way through a maze of twists and turns as we navigated through each hall. Every so often Ironhide had me use my door wings to search for nearby Decepticon patrols. Which was really cool by the way, not only could I sense Ironhide's spark, but that of the Decepticons that were patrolling the very halls we were currently in.

We were able to find the room that housed all of Ironhide's confiscated weaponry. How this guy was able to carry so many guns at one time was beyond me. He even offered to give me one of his combat knives. "Jus' in case we run into trouble." He had said.

"Better to be safe than sorry I guess." He laughed at me for this.

We were almost home free when our luck finally ran out. Two guards stood by the main door. I looked towards Ironhide, _Now what do we do?_

I glanced down at the dagger in my hand, then back at Ironhide. He nodded, motioning that I would take down guard while he got the other.

I had plenty of experience using knives from the other VRs I had played. Memory muscle was an amazing thing. Memory muscle and muscle memory were pretty much the same thing. Only difference was that memory muscle takes place when your brain is the one acting on instinct, not your physical body.

My gaze hardened, knife ready in one hand before I took off. I kept low to the ground, my steps silent and quick. The guard was dead before he even knew what was happening.

I jumped onto his back using my momentum to help slam the knife into his head. After he fell to the ground with a THUMP, I turned to see Ironhide had just finished off the other guard.

Removing my knife from the guard, we made our way out of the building. It wasn't until the base was far off into the distance when Ironhide stopped to look at me.

"Hey kid, you know how to use your T-Cog right?" I tilted me head to the side.

"T what now?" He sighed hard.

"Your T-Cog, your alt mode? Can you use it?" I continued to stare at him, my confusion starting to show on my face. Realization formed on his face. "You've never used your T-Cog before have you?" Shaking my head, he started to pace. Silently cursing as he did so.

I took a moment to actually study Ironhide's character. For a NPC he seemed to have a lot of character to him. More so than any of the others I've met in precious games. _Maybe the creators are testing out a new VI?_ Now that I thought about it, Cybertron's tutorial hasn't been very informative when it comes to explaining the dynamics of the game. I've had to figure everything out on my own so far.

Ironhide came to a stop a few feet before me. He seemed to be deep in thought. He looked out into the distance, towards the direction we had originally been running in before he looked back at me.

"We have too far to travel by foot. I hope you're a fast learner kid cause we need to get moving again. Fast." Squaring my shoulders, I gave a firm nod. The sooner we got out of here, the better.

The process of actually learning how to use a T-Cog wasn't as complicated as I had originally expected it to be. The weird part though? I transformed in a vehicle. A motorcycle to be exact. Or at least Cybertron's version of a motorcycle. The sensation was an odd one. My body shifting to become something else entirely.

But I drove a motorcycle every day. Learning how to drive myself, as the bike, shouldn't prove to be too difficult. I was a little shaky at first but I got the hang of it fast enough. I could keep my balance without falling over at least.

When Ironhide transformed, it was into a something that seemed to resemble a truck. He took the lead, me following close behind. It was strange, feeling the hard ground beneath my tires as we drove. Ironhide said that if we kept up a decent pace, we would reach one of his factions base soon. They called themselves Autobots.

As the Decepticon base grew smaller and smaller behind us, I could only hope that things would start to look up for us soon.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. I had fun thinking of how my Prowl would break down a situation to find a solution.**

 **On another note, updates might not be as frequent as I would like due to having a full time job and going to school, but I will aim for posting 1 chapter every other week if possible. Maybe sooner depending on how nice the plot bunnies are.**


	4. Stalker

We had been traveling for what must have been hours before we finally we reached 'Autobot' territory. Ironhide kept pushing me for us to keep a steady pace, I did my best but I didn't have the same amount of endurance as him. Every so often Ironhide would allow for a short stop, but we would always get back on the road shortly after.

As we traveled I began to wonder. We had been at this for forever now. I _must_ have reached the time limit by now. My headset should have forced me out of the game ages ago. Unfortunately I would have to think on the matter as a giant wall came into view.

It was an encampment of sorts. We were still a few miles out before we ran across a patrol. Being held at gunpoint isn't the greatest of first impressions. Ironhide shifted to the side, using his body to shield me out of view of the mechs before us. He took charge of the situation, stating his name and flashing his Autobot symbol at them.

They dropped their weapons and saluted. Apologizing for the inconvenience, they offered to escort us the rest of the way to the base. Once we were inside Ironhide ordered for me to be taken to the Med-Bay. I tried to protest, I wanted to stay with him. He was the closest thing I had to a friend here. Even if he was a NPC.

"You need to get that helm of yur's looked at kid. We don' know how much damage the Cons may have done. I'll come find you after I've finished my debrief." He gave my shoulder a firm squeeze before he left.

* * *

As I was led through the mass of buildings towards the Med-Bay, I noticed a NPC leaning against a nearby wall. His silver frame seemed to glow in the low light. He was about my height, half a head taller perhaps. He had an air about him, one that made a shiver go down my spine. His eyes were covered so I was unable to see what color they were. I nodded in his direction as we passed; he smiled back, nodding in return.

After I arrived at the Med-Bay I was finally able to get the dent in my head taken care of.

"Now if you feel any dizziness or discomfort what so ever, you come straight back here. Alright?" The medic attending to me was woman, the first I had seen since I started playing. She had yellow armor and went by the designation of Livewire.

"Yes ma'am" giving her a firm nod I left the Med-Bay. _I should try logging out while I have the chance._ As I made to bring up my options menu my wings felt the presence of a familiar spark. Turning my head slightly got get a better look at see who it was, I was surprised to find that it was the silver man from before.

He was once again leaning on a nearby wall again. _Interesting._ My wings twitched, moving into a high V. As I started to wander around the Autobot camp, I concentrated on his spark signature. Watching his movements carefully I noticed that as I moved, so did he. Staying far enough away to remain inconspicuous but close enough that I was still within his line of sight.

I quickened my steps, looking for a familiar face. Be that of soldiers that found Ironhide and I or Ironhide himself. Every time I thought I had lost my shadow he would show up again, just leaning on another building smirking at me. Like he knew I was trying to get away from him.

On the outside I kept my cool, face blank of emotion, door wings held in a stiff arch. Internally though I was freaking out. _Where the hell is Ironhide!?_ My hand hovered over the knife that rested on my thigh. Trying to maintain a casual pace I took a sharp turn around a building, hiding in the shadows, I waited with baited breath. His spark continued to get closer and closer before he finally came around the building.

He paused, glancing side to side. He tilted his head to the side, the fins on either side of his head shifting, moving back and forth. _Those must be his ears. Is he trying to find me through sounds? Echo location maybe?_ I kept perfectly still, holding each breath for as long as I could. My heart was beating so hard I was almost positive he would hear.

His mouth formed a grim line before he took off. Running in the direction I had originally been walking in. I waited a few minutes, in case he decided to double back. Once I was sure he wasn't coming back I made my way in the opposite direction.

I focused my attention on reading the sparks closest to me. _Don't want to run into him again that's for sure._

* * *

It took a while but I was finally able to track down Ironhide by using my wings. It was easy to do once I figure out how. His back was turned to me, I was about to call out to him when I noticed he was talking to Livewire. I knew better than to eavesdrop but I couldn't help it. Like before I used the shadows to my advantage, blending in and staying hidden. _Geez, Anne was right. I really am a prowler._

"How far along is she?" _I wonder who Ironhide talking about._

"She's in her third frame, almost ready to start her final growth spurt." _Third frame? Growth spurt?_

"And her creators?" _Creators? The heck are those?_

"I couldn't find any traces of a bond from the scans I took of her spark." _What the hell is a spark? Or a bond for that matter?  
_

"None at all?"

"None, it's as if her creators never initiated a bond with her after she was sparked."

"Slag, maybe I should take her back to Iacon with me, have Ratchet take a look at her."

"Are you sure Prowl will go with you? There's a chance that she may want to be sent back to Praxus." _Wait a second..they're talking about me!_

"All I can do is ask. It don' feel right to jus' leave her on her own when she don' have anybody else." I looked down at the ground, a frown on my face. My wings started to droop a little. I felt horrible, I didn't want Ironhide to worry about me. Not when he didn't have to. I paused, shaking my head, face scrunching up in confusion. _Why do I even care? He's just an NPC, like all the others. I need to log off before this game messes with my head anymore than it already has._

I slipped away before Ironhide or Livewire noticed my presence. Not once noticing the shadow that followed.

* * *

 **Gotta say, I never expected my story to get so much attention. A lot thanks and appreciation go to** Cashagon, AndromedaAI **,** Malkah5967 **and** CrackleShot-the-Sparkeater **for your awesome reviews. It really helped to boost my confidence in this story. I hope you, and everyone else who reads this story, enjoys reading it as much as I do writing it.**


	5. Can't Leave

I was starting to have a panic attack. _I can't log off, why can't I log off!?_ No matter what I did, how hard I looked, I couldn't log off. I couldn't even find the option _to_ log off. I paced back and forth in a dark alley I had found, the buildings so close I had to keep my wings in a high arch to avoid scraping them every time I turned. Mind racing a hundred miles a minute.

 _Is there a glitch? System failure?_ I paused, _I can't restart the headset manually, should I try to hack it? My skills were never that great when it came to messing around with coding but still._ I concentrated on bringing up the options menu. I waited. My face scrunched in confusion when nothing happened. _Why isn't my options menu popping up?_

My anxiety started to peak again. _This is_ **not** _happening!_ I didn't notice my wings quiver in distress. I had to get out, but how? Taking a deep breath I tried to steady myself. _This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I just need to die, the system will restart me to the last check point. That'll force the system to reboot too. That should fix it._

As I made to move forward, my wings once again picked up the spark signature of my shadow. _Oh come on!_ I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath to steady the rapid beating of my heart. Keeping my eyes closed concentrated on pinpointing Shadow's location. _This guy doesn't know when to give up does he? Now where are you….There!_

Eyes snapping open, I looked up. Sure enough there he was, smirking down at me. _Asshole._ Placing my hands on my hips I glared at him, only for his smirk grew in response. I could see the laughter in his eyes as he looked down at me.

"You going to come down from there or do I have to come up?" He tilted his head to the side, before he leapt over the side of the building. He landed in a low crouch before me, standing up to his full height.

"Yor a slippery one ya know tha'?" My eyes narrowed.

"Only when I have to be. Especially when I have strange men stalking me." His smirk turned into a small smile as he raised his hands in surrender.

"'Ey I'm jus' doin' an ol' friend a favor." I raised an eyebrow at him. _I'm about to kick this guy where the sun don't shine._

"And who exactly thought that it would be a good idea to have you follow me around?" He chuckled, it was then I noticed just how deep his voice really was. He opened his mouth to respond when my wings picked up a signature. One that seemed familiar but I couldn't quit place why. I held up a hand, cutting him off. He tilted his head, a confused look crossing his face.

I concentrated on the signature, it was moving in on our location. My wings twitched, trying to get a better read on whoever it was. I cursed, there wasn't enough room for me to move my wings here. Shadow shifted, concern replacing his confusion.

"Someone's coming, I can't tell who though." He tilted his head to the side, fins moving like they had when he was tailing me. He frowned, looking at me he gestured for me to follow. I didn't question him; I was more worried about who was heading our way. They would be on us soon if we didn't move.

* * *

Every so often Shadow would pull me between the buildings as he used his fins, twisting them this way and that. I kept my wings in a stiff arch as was usual at this point. I kept most of my attention on our new tail. They seemed to be just as persistent as Shadow was when he was tailing me. _Where have I felt that signature before!? It's not Ironhide or Livewire. It's definitely not Shadow, so who the hell is it? Wait…the only other signatures that I know of were those of the Decepticons patrolling the base when Ironhide and I were..!_

I grabbed Shadow's arm, getting closer to his head so only he would hear me "It's a Decepticon." He looked at me sharply.

"Yor sure?"

"Positive." He growled, grabbing my arm as he pulled me into one of the surrounding buildings. Other than a few beds here and there it was empty. He positioned himself in front of me, facing the door. I flexed my wings, our tail was almost at the door. I gripped Ironhide's combat knife in my hand, ready for anything.

 _It's just a game, none of this is real, it's just_ _ **a game!**_ I kept chanting this in my mind over and over. I had to remind myself that none of this was real. It was just a game. Technically speaking, nothing in here could hurt me. But that didn't stop the sliver of fear that started to form in my chest.

"I'm not gonna let anythin' happen to ya femme, I made a promise that I'd keep ya safe and I intend to." He was glancing at me over his shoulder. My wings twitched as I stared at his visor. It made me feel a little safer in his presence, knowing he wasn't going to leave me on my own.

Before I could respond the door opened. Shadow shifted closer, his hand coming around to gently push the knife in my hand out of view. I kept my gaze fixed on the figure that had just entered the building. It was tall, black and white armor with door wings held high.

"Cade, anythin' I can help ya with?" Shadow seemed to relax a little, but I had a feeling he was more than ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"Not really, just thought I'd say hello to the femme. It's not every day a fellow Praxian passes through here." I narrowed my eyes at him. _His spark is the one that's been following us. But he has the a signature of one of the Decepticons from the base. But if he's one of them then how come Shadow isn't.._ then it dawned on me. _He must be a spy, or an infiltrator, hell he might even be a defect. It doesn't really matter what he is, all that matters is that he's the_ _ **bad guy**_ _._

"If you're so desperate to talk to another…." _Shit, what was the term? "_ Praxian _,_ then maybe you should go back to Praxus more often." My voice was cold, calm. A major contrast to the thundering beat of my heart. Cade sneered at me.

"Now why would I do that when I have you?" He edged closer, blocking the door.

"Ey mech, now ain't exactly the best time fo' a visit. But we can set up a play date for anotha' time if ya like." As Cade took a step closer I pressed a hand on Shadow's back, trying to ground myself. He squeezed my hand in response.

"Really now Jazz, one would almost think that you were keeping her all to yourself." Shadow..no Jazz, shifted in front of me. He straightened his shoulders, coming to his full height .

"What can ah say mech, femmes as pretty as her are hard to come by. Can't blame a meh for wanting to have her all to mahself." I tore my gaze away from Cade, looking at Jazz like he had grown a second head. Cade gave a dark chuckle, taking another step closer.

"True, but I think it's time you learned how to share." Cade raised one of his arms. It….changed. It physically morphed into a gun. My breathe hitched, _Wonderful, I've brought a knife to a gun fight._ Jazz chuckled, like there was an inside joke that I had missed the punch line to.

"It's cute that ya think I'm gonna let ya walk outta here with her. Especially when it's three agains' one."

"Haha! Three to one? You really don't know how to count do you? It's just you," he took a step "me," another "and her. Ain't no one else in this building besides us."

"Not in this building no, but that don' mean we're alone." Cade's triumphant look morphed into one of confusion. I shifted my gaze towards the door, Cade was close enough to the point that I could make out a figure silently opening the door, it was bulky, cannons for arms and….! I almost cried in relief. _Oh thank God._

"I don't have time for your fragging riddles Jazz. Just hand over the femme and maybe I won't kill you." The figure pounced, grubbing Cade and slamming him into one of the walls. He was knocked out on the ground in under a minute. Jazz chuckled, walking over to give our Ironhide a hand while they handcuffed Cade.

"It's about fraggin' time ya got here. What took ya so long?"

"It's not like you gave me an exact location to go off of. Now if you'll excuse me." Ironhide walked around Jazz and made his way over to me, putting a firm hand on my shoulder. I wanted so badly to hug him, but I don't think he would appreciate it if I clung to his frame like a koala. Besides, I'm not too fond of public displays of affection. So I settled for the next best thing.

Ever so gently, I rested my forehead on his chest and released a breath I didn't know I was holding. My wings quivered, the stress of everything was starting to get to me.

I can't log out, I was stalked by Jazz, _then_ I was stalked and held at gunpoint by this lunatic… _I just wanna go home._

Ironhide wrapped his arms around me. He rubbed the space between my wings as he did so. I more than welcomed the embrace; his presence was so comforting to me. Ever since I started playing this game, not once has Ironhide allowed any harm to come to me.

"Jazz, think you can take care of Barricade while I take care of Prowl? I think she's had more than enough excitement for the day."

"Ah'll take care of it mech. Do what ya gotta do."

* * *

Ironhide ended up taking to his designated quarters on base. _Wow, Ironhide must have a high rank if he has a room all to himself._

"You take the berth kid, I've got some reports I need to take care of. We'll discuss what happened earlier after you've had some recharge."

"Honestly Ironhide, I'm fine." Ironhide frowned, giving me a firm look.

"You're going to get on that berth and get some fragging recharge femme. You've been runnin' on fumes since we left the Con's base." My wings drooped a little. _He's right, I can barely walk in a straight line at this point._

"Alright, I'll get some..recharge. But only if you promise to get some as well. We've both been awake for the same amount of time so it would only be logical if you got some recharge as well." I crossed my arms as I waited for his answer. He gave a light chuckle.

"You drive a hard bargain kid. Alrigh' I'll get some recharge after I finish this report." Nodding my head I walked over to his berth. It was a slab of metal sticking out of the wall. _At least I'm not sleeping on the floor._ It was a lot more comfortable than it looked that's for sure. Closing my eyes I allowed the darkness to consume me with only one thought on my mind.

 _One way or another, I_ _ **have**_ _to get out of here._

* * *

 **I just want to give a major shout out to Cashagon. This story was originally going to go in an entirely different direction if it hadn't been for their first review for this story. Honestly I love how this storyline is progressing a lot better than the original storyline I had planned out.**

 **And something else I wanted to make you guys aware of. A close family member has recently been put into Hospice, so some of my time will be spent on lending emotional support to my loved ones. This story is NOT being put on Hiatus, it's just that updates might not be as long or be posted as often as recent chapters have been. I'm already halfway through with chapter 6 as we speak, so that will be up sometime next Monday.**

 **Until then my readers,**

 **-Angel**


	6. Now What?

It took me a minute to realize that I was staring at the ceiling of my apartment. _What the? I'm..I'm out of the game. I got out!_ Shooting upward , glancing down at my body, my _human_ body. A smile spreading across my face as I took in my surroundings. _Wait a minute, isn't that, no it can't be._ Turning to the table next to me I noticed that my headset was innocently laying on the coffee table next to me. _Why wasn't I wearing my headset? What-_ there was a flash of movement off to my right, towards the direction of my room. My head shot to the side. Gently placing the headset back onto the table I stood up.

Walking over, I slowly peaked around the doorway. My jaw dropped; there flitting around my room, was a giant ball of light. It was a soft golden color. It floated from place to place, hovering around the furniture around my room as if to inspect every detail. It didn't _look_ dangerous. I slowly stepped into the room. I was halfway inside when the ball stopped, before shooting behind my bed. I squeaked at the sudden movement, jumping back in surprise.

I moved forward to peak around my bed, trying to see if I couldn't catch a glimpse of the glowing ball. At the same time it started to peak out as well before quickly retreating back. I gently knelt before my bed, looking at the ball. It reminded me of a child, alone and afraid, unsure of what was happening.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." It shifted closer, coming to hover in front of me. I took a moment to observe what was in front of me. It really was just a giant ball of light, if I tried to hold it, my arms wouldn't be able to reach all the way around it. It seemed to be studying me as well. I could almost feel its curiosity.

I giggled, "You're kinda cute you know that?" The ball gained a blue tint, as if it was blushing or something. "That's not a bad thing ya know. If you don't mind my asking..What are you?" The ball hovered for a moment as if to consider how to respond.

 **Cybertronian.** I jolted back, not expecting the ball to actually respond to me. Its voice was deep and smooth. I tilted my head, looking at the ball.

"You don't look like any Cybertronian I've ever seen."

 **Cybertronain spark.** I stared for a moment. _It's a spark? So, whenever I use my wings to sense other Cybertronians, this is what they pick up?_

"What exactly is a spark?" Suffice to say that this question turned into a long winded explanation that a spark, like my glowing friend here, was basically the Cybertronian equivalent of a human soul in physical form. It was an interesting conversation, Glow, as I came to call the giant ball, was very curious to say the least.

He asked countless questions about me. What I was, what planet I came from, what it was like to made out of organic matter. That one was both difficult to answer, and slightly awkward. It was cute how he floated around my 'apartment,' examining everything in it, asking what each item was and what it was used for.

It was interesting when he found my tablet. Apparently there was a Cybertronian version of it called a data pad, which was what they used instead of paper. It made sense, the thought of Ironhide hunched over a piece of paper while he struggled to use a tiny pencil had put me into a fit of girlish giggling that seemed to make Glow question my sanity.

As I continued to converse with Glow, I wandered around my 'apartment.' At one point I tried to leave through the front door. Only when I opened the door, I was not greeted by…nothing? There was literally nothing there. It was like we were in space or something, floating around in the middle of nowhere.

Somehow Glow had been able to pull me back inside when I accidentally leaned a little too far out of the door and almost fell. It was an odd sensation due to the simple fact that Glow didn't physically have any limbs.

 _Am I still in Cybertron? If not then what is this place? Why am I'm here? Why is Glow here? Why is my apartment just floating around in the middle of nowhere? Where are we?_

 **Are you alright?**

I shifted my gaze towards Glow. He was currently 'sitting' next to me on my couch as I tried to figure out what was going on.

"I'm fine Glow," I leaned back against the couch, staring at the ceiling. "I'm just confused."

 **About what?**

"About why we're here, where here even is, that sort of thing. None of this makes any sense." Glow floated closer, coming to settle against my side. I shifted my weight so I was leaned against him. His presence was warm and comforting, a grounding force that helped to keep me from breaking down as the realization that I wasn't going to make it home anytime soon hit me once more.

Whatever was happening..it was all just too real for my liking. Ironhide, Jazz, Barricade, hell even _Glow_ , had personality matrixes unlike anything I had ever seen before. As if they were alive. I shivered at the thought. _But if they really_ _ **are**_ _alive..then does that mean..this is all real? And if this_ _ **is**_ _real, then how did I even get here? How did I go from playing a_ _ **game**_ _to being stuck on another_ _ **planet**_ _? Another universe, reality, whatever the fuck you wanted to call it._

Taking a deep breath I snuggled into Glow. Now wasn't the time to think about such things.

"Glow, do things like this happen a lot?" Glow shifted a little.

 **Not sure. Never experienced this before.**

"Wonderful…"

 **But..may know where to look for answers.** I leaned away from Glow so I could look at him. A frown formed on my face as I lifted an eyebrow.

"Glow, you're not going to do something illegal are you?" I was only slightly serious. Slightly. Just a little…Maybe.

Glow chuckled.

 **No, no. Have access to information. Might find something helpful.** I sighed.

"Fine, but only if you promise not to get yourself into trouble." My eyes started to droop, I felt tired. Snuggling once more into Glow's side, I allowed my body to relax.

 **You are tired, recharge.** I let my eyes close, wondering what I would see when I opened them again.

* * *

 **Alrighty guys, here is chapter 6 like I promised! I'm really interested to hear your thoughts about what is happening to May/Prowl right now. I really want to hear who YOU think our glowing ball of light really is. Chapter 7 is well under way and will be up for your weekly update by Monday.**

 **To Jazzilynn Hall,**

 **I haven't seen SOA before. I've heard of it, but I've never actually watched the show. I actually got the idea from reading a manga called ½ Prince.**

 **And to Malkah5967,**

 **Thank you for your kind words and for understanding. I feel as though if I were to put this story into Hiatus, then I would never have the courage to start it back up. I'm going to dedicate the completion of this story to the memory of my uncle. I'm considering making a relationship between May/Prowl that is similar to the one I share with him.**

 **Until then my readers,**

 **-Angel**


	7. Interrogation

"Ironhide?"

"Hm?"

"Why am I here?" Ironhide looked down at me, his face serious.

"I already tol' ya kid, I ain't lettin' you outta my sight." I huffed, hands coming to rest on my hips. _Seriously?_

"I don't see why you can't just have one your friends stalk me again. Which, by the way, I'm still mad at you for." Ironhide folded his arms, matching my glare with one of his own.

"Nothin' you say or do is gonna make me apologize for bein' concerned about yur safety kid." A strange warmth seemed to form in my chest, _Why? Why does he care so much?_

"Then why don't you let me wait out in the hall? I don't think I'm actually supposed to here." Ironhide snorted.

"Like I said kid, I ain't letting you outta my sight. Besides, nobody is gonna care if yor here."

""Ironhide…we're in an _interrogation_ room. Of course they're going to care that I'm in here!" Somehow Ironhide had come to the _wonderful_ conclusion that he was going to glue himself to my side. It had been about a week since our encounter with Barricade, apparently someone thought that he had spent enough time in his cell and was now to be questioned. By Ironhide. With me in the observation room. _I have a really bad feeling about this._

I stilled for a moment, wings twitching as they picked up the movements of a certain shadow. I almost ground out loud. _Oh come on!_

"I know you're there Jazz, stop hiding and get down here." Turning my gaze to the ventilation grate up above I heard a quiet curse. A barely there smirk started you form on my face. _Prowl 5 Jazz 0._

Since the attack, Jazz had taken to following me around everywhere I went. He seemed to be making a game out of it, he would follow me around in the shadows trying to sneak up on me. He had yet to succeed.

During this time, Ironhide had pushed me to get some training in hand to hand combat. Going so far as to actually have Livewire give me an upgrade. My wrists now bore blades that I could activate on a moment's notice. At first I had refused, I already had Ironhide's combat knife so why would I need more? But he argued that there was always the chance that I would leave it laying around somewhere and not have it when I needed it most.

Then there was the room. That place that look exactly like my apartment. Every time I went to sleep I went there. Glow too apparently. Unfortunately he had yet to find any information on why we were there but he promised to continue searching.

To occupy ourselves during these visits Glow started to give me lessons on reading and writing in Cybertronian. In exchange I let him browse through my assorted collection of DVDs. His reaction to Twilight was hysterical, apparently he's a Team Jacob fan. Arron had bought the whole collection for me as a joke due to my extreme hatred for the series.

My heart clenched whenever I thought about them. Arron, Richard…Jax. I missed them. I wondered if I would ever see them again.

Glow had yet to come across any information that could help us figure out what was happening to us.

Bringing myself back to the present, I watched Jazz as he extracted himself from the vent. Ironhide chuckled. My smirk grew a little more at the sight of his glare when he landed next to me.

"Havin' fun Jazz?"

"Shut up Hide." My wings twitched in amusement at the sight of him walking off to a corner to sulk. My expression fell when I met Ironhide's gaze. His arms were crossed and he was smiling at me.

"What?" He chuckled a little.

"Nothin' kid." I Huffing and resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him, I turned my attention back to Barricade as he sat in the interrogation room. His arms cuffed to the table, wings held in a neutral stance. Ironhide wrapped his arms around my shoulders, giving them a firm squeeze. "He's not getting anywhere near you kid, I promise."

"Not if we have anything to say about." I turned to my head to see that Jazz had stopped sulking to stand next to me.

"I'm not worried about him trying to hurt me. I'm worried about how he knew where I was and why he's here." Giving my should one final squeeze, Ironhide moved towards the door that separated us from Barricade.

"That's what I'm about to find out kid." Opening the door and moving inside I prepared myself for the worst.

* * *

Ironhide stormed back inside the observation room, furious. Barricade looking extremely satisfied with himself. We had been at this for over 4 hours now and Barricade hadn't made a peep. Jazz had taken to leaning against the wall behind me as I paced back and forth along the one sided glass.

"The fragger won't talk!"

"I can see that Hide, we're just gonna have to try something else." I drew my attention inwards, trying to think of anything else we could do to try and get the answers we needed out of Barricade. _Come on girl think! What could we possibly use against him?_ I paused, an idea slowly starting to form in my head. _Maybe..yes that could work!_

"I'll do it." They both stopped, turning to look at me like I had just asked them whether or not my armor made my butt look big. Snapping out of his stupor Ironhide looked at me, his eyes hard.

"Absolutely not." I narrowed my eyes at him, hands coming up to rest on my hips.

"You have any better ideas Ironhide? Cause I sure don't." He crossed his arms and stared down at me.

"I think it's a good idea." We froze, turning to look at Jazz as he stared at Barricade.

"You crazy!? There ain't no way in _Pit_ that I'm leaving her alone with that Con!" I felt my anger rise.

"You ca-"

"She won't be alone Hide."

"What?" _Okay, you're losing me here._

"I'll be with her the entire time, don' worry Hide."

"He's not goin' to talk if he knows either of us are in there."

"Well I'll just have to make sure he doesn't know I'm there." I sighed, turning to fully face Jazz. Crossing my arms over my chest.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that Jazz?" He gave me one of his oh so annoying smirks.

"The vents Prowl, he won't even know I'm there." I scoffed at him.

"Jazz, he's a Praxian just like me. He'll sense your spark." He chuckled at me, smiling he pointed at my wings.

"But that's just it femme, he won'. The only reason you were able to find me earlier is because your wings are more spark sensitive than any other Praxian I've ever met." My wings twitched a little. _What?_ Ironhide brought a hand up to his chin.

"That could work." I swung around to look at him.

"Wait what? Just a minute ago you were in an uproar about me being anywhere near Barricade." He looked back down at me.

"That was befo' Jazz said he would go with you. At least this way I'll know you have back up if anythin' happens." Nodding I turned back to Jazz.

"So how are we going to do this?" Jazz turned serious once more, turning to look at the vent he had previously occupied this morning.

"I'll go ahead and get myself situated. Ya head on in when yor ready."

"Alright." Jazz walked over to the vent before he nimbly jumped and pulled himself in. As he finished up his disappearing act I watched Barricade. Looking for any indication that he was aware of Jazz's presence. Nothing. _Either this guy's wings are broken or Jazz was right._

"What exactly are you gonna do kid?" A coy smile formed on my face as I looked over my shoulder at Ironhide.

"Why, I'm going to seduce him of course." Ironhide sputtered as I straightened my shoulders and walked inside. Instantly Barricade fixed his eyes on me. I tilted my head to the side, fluttering my wings a little as I swayed my hips with each step I took towards him. He leered at me, eyes roving down my body. Coming to stop a few steps away from him I noticed his gaze locked onto my wings as I gave them another small flutter. He let out a small growl at the sight. _I really hope this works._ Cooking my hips and resting my hands on them I opened my mouth.

"Hello Barricade, remember me?"

* * *

I walked back into the observation room with a satisfied smirk on my face. As the door closed behind me Jazz pulled himself out of the vents again. He had an unreadable expression on his face as he stared at me. It was similar to the ones I would see Jax give me when he thought I wasn't looking. Confused I looked over to Ironhide, one eyebrow raised as the smile fell from my face. _If Ironhide isn't careful his jaw is going to become very good friends with the floor._

"Ironhide?" Waving a hand in front of his face I grew concerned when didn't acknowledge my presence. Turning back to Jazz I shrugged shoulders, unsure of what to do. _I really wish I could see his eyes. That visor of his makes it really hard to tell what he's looking at._

"Why don' ya head on back to yor quarters Prowler. We'll make sure Barricade gets back to his cell." Nodding I left the interrogation room and went back to the quarters that I shared with Ironhide. At first I had been shocked by how forceful he was about me staying with him, but I chalked it up to him still feeling responsible for my well being.

I was halfway there when I stopped in my tracks. _Why the hell did Jazz just call me Prowler?_

* * *

 **Alrighty guys, something I just want you guys to be aware of. In this story, May IS Prowl. There isn't a mech called Prowl that is going to pop out of the ground like a daisy going "Poof! Here I am!" A lot of you may be hoping that she will run into a mech Prowl later on in the story, so I'm sorry to disappoint you that this will not be happening.**

 **I MIGHT make a little romance between May/Prowl and Jazz, but I'm still working out the kinks that I have for that idea. I completely agree with Cash that many romances made in this Fandom are a little cheesy and unrealistic. I want to try to make this as realistic as I can in every aspect of this story, romances included. That doesn't mean that I'm going to succeed in this regard but I'm going to do my best! So any suggestions that you guys have about how I can bring this, a romance between May/Prowl and Jazz, about would be greatly appreciated and that chapter will posted in your honor. So if you want, go ahead and message me with your ideas and I'll start working out how to implement them.**

 **My plot bunnies are struggling to figure out how to continue ch8, so there is a chance that chapter may be updated a little later than our usual Monday.**

 **Until then my readers**

 **-Angel**


	8. Dread

**You…seduced Barricade?** Like every night I went to sleep, I returned to the space that I shared with Glow. From what we could understand about this…connection we shared, whenever one of us fell asleep our consciousness would enter this room. I found it sad that throughout our nightly encounters Glow reminded me more and more of Arron. At times he acted like a child, others he acted like the weight of the world rested solely on his shoulders.

So during our time here I did my best to keep him occupied with meaningless chatter of what I had experienced so far in his world. Currently we were discussing the methods I had used to convince Barricade to cooperate with his interrogation.

"Yeah, you should have seen Ironhide's face when I was done, it was priceless." Giggling I recounted the events that had transpired in as much detail as I could. Glow heartily laughed at the thought of me 'seducing' anyone. As a human I had no sexual appeal to the opposite sexual. Even by Cybertronian standards I wasn't all too sure what was considered to be attractive.

 **I can only imagine. So what exactly did he say?** I looked down at my lap, I was sitting Indian style on the couch facing Glow as he situated himself next to me. The things I had learned from Barricade had me worried.

"He said…that the Con's wanted their battle computer back. You know what that is?" Glow didn't say anything for a while. He shifted closer, I could feel his concern coming off of him in waves.

 **A battle computer is as the name suggests, a computer used for battle. It makes calculations and scenarios that would produce the best outcome. But production of them was stopped at the start of the Golden Age. The plans used to design them were lost vorns ago.** A cold numbness ran up my spin.

"You don't think that…the Decepticons made one do you?"

 **With the Decepticons anything is possible. Especially if Shockwave is involved.**

"Shockwave?" Glow seemed hesitant to respond. _This guy must be bad news for Glow to be so unnerved._

 **He…his 'experiments' are..not something I would wish upon anybot.**

"Wait a minute, he experiments on _bots_?" Glow stayed silent, but I could feel his dread. We seemed to share some sort of connection in this place that transferred whatever we felt to one another. A bond Glow called it. It helped us understand what the other was feeling when words weren't enough. I looked at Glow, dreading what I was about to ask. "You don't think he..used me to experiment on do you?"

 **It is possible. You said that you had no recollection of how you came to be in that cell?** I nodded.

"But why _me_?"

 **Younger frames can handle changes more easily than that of a fully matured one. Your frame is not yet fully matured so therefore it would be more accepting of any changes made to it at this time.** I absorbed his words, digesting them and examining what it would mean if someone really _did_ decide to play doctor and screw around with my insides. I paused, squinting at Glow.

"Hold the phone, how did you know my frame wasn't fully matured yet? I haven't told you anything about it besides it's designation."

 **I..uh..well..Lucky guess?** Crossing my arms, I glared at him.

"Glooow." He shifted back, as if to become one with the arm of the sofa behind him.

 **I may have..looked at your file.**

"My what?"

 **Your file. I was curious about you, so I looked up your information after you gave me your designation.** I sighed.

"You could have just asked me Glow, I would have told you." He finally came closer coming to rest in front of me once again.

 **I apologize if what I did upset you.** I pouted.

"You know it's not exactly fair that you know all there is to know about me when you won't even tell me your designation."

 **I have my reasons.** I waved a hand at him.

"Suuuure, don't share your deepest darkest secrets with your best friend mister big shot."

 **Now your just being a sparkling.** I stuck my tongue out at him, this earned me a small chuckle in response. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open at this point. My frame must be preparing to end it's recharge cycle soon.

"Looks like I need to head back, I'll see you tomorrow night Glow." He surged forward and gave me his version of a warm embrace.

 **Stay out of trouble May. I will see you next cycle.**

* * *

 **Hello my lovely readers! Good news is that my plot bunnies decided to give me inspiration for this chapter! I know it's a lot shorter than previous chapters and for that I apologize, but this week was a hectic for me due to finals and work. But hey! After this week I won't have to worry about homework for a while so that will give me more time to write.**

 **If you guys see any information floating around as your reading that doesnt make sense or needs clarfication feel free to let me know. It really bothers me when I don't catch those before I post these guys.**

 **Also, if you guys are enjoying this story I would highly recommend that you read AlloraStar217's "Is This Reality?" It's a VR transformers story that I enjoyed and I think many of you would as well.**

 **To Mewnekoice**

 **A stalking Jazz huh? Oh the possibilities are endless with that. I can't wait to start writing that in. Hopefully I can write it in a way that you find both funny and entertaining.**

 **Until then my readers,**

 **Angel**


	9. The Scan

"Alright Prowl, I'm almost finished here."

It had been about two days since we had learned about what the Decepticons were looking for. At the moment, Livewire was doing a scan of my processor. After we had learned from Barricade that the Con's were looking for a battle computer Ironhide, after he was finally able to pick his jaw up from the ground, was worried that I now carried said object inside my head..sorry _helm._ All these different terms for body/frame parts are a little confusing.

"Well? Is it there?"

"Calm down Ironhide, I won't be able to tell you anything until this scan finishes." Reaching over I grasped Ironhide's hand with my own. His eyes never left Livewire but he gave my hand a tight squeeze. Turing back to the screen in front of her, Livewire picked up a data pad and started searching through all the data that the scanner was sending to it. Releasing a sigh she turned back to us. "I'm sorry Prowl, Ironhide. But it looks like…you have a mass near the center of your processor."

My wings hitched, I had been laying on my back during the scan so I wouldn't hurt them. _A mass_?

"Wha' do you mean by a mass?" I brought myself into an upright position, but stayed on the berth. I didn't trust my legs to support me at the moment.

"You might not be aware of this Ironhide, but since the Golden Age no one has possessed a battle computer. It's been so long since the last one was in existence that modern medical scanners won't register them. The only way I can make sure whether or not Prowl _does_ have a battle computer is if I physically go in and look." _Ah hell no! She is_ _ **not**_ _going anywhere near my helm with a scalpel. Nuh uh. No. Nein. Nope Boat, ticket for one please!_

I took a deep breath to help center myself before I addressed Livewire. "Livewire, as much as I appreciate the thought, I don't think the Decepticons would send somebot to come after me because I carried a _mass_ in my helm. The only logical reason behind such actions is that I possess this battle computer of theirs and they want it back."

"Is there any way we can remove it?" Livewire looked back at the data pad. Shaking her head she looked at Ironhide and me.

"From what I can tell, whoever did this to you deeply ingrained the battle computer into your processor. If I tried to remove it.. " She didn't need to finish, or at least she couldn't. _Wonderful, I've got this stupid computer in my helm because that Shockwave mo fo decided it was a good idea to turn me into a science experiment. And I can't get it removed because the bastard thought it would be oh so wonderful to make the addition permanent._

Head bent and hands gripping the berth like no tomorrow I tried to digest the information given to me. After a moment of silence I looked back to Livewire. "Is it active?"

"No, not yet. From the information I gathered it looks as though it won't activate unless a certain command is given. Unfortunately I can't tell you what that command is."

Ironhide had been quiet for some time now. He seemed to be contemplating on what to do next. He gave my hand another squeeze before he spoke.

"I think I migh' know some bots tha' can help. But the only problem with tha' is they're at Iacon, and I have a feelin' tha' the Cons are keepin' a lookout for an opportunity to take the kid."

"If that's the case then how exactly do you plan to get her there?" My wings hitched a little on my back as I took in a few more readings of the area, searching for my now ever present Shadow. Since the interrogation he had been following me _everywhere_. It was starting to get a little out of hand actually, like he wasn't following me because Ironhide asked him to, but because he _wanted_ to. Now where was he… _Aha! There you are._ Tilting my head to the side I turned my gaze upward.

"Do you have anything you would like to add to this discussion Jazz?" There was a quiet laugh before he came down from his spot inside the vents. _Why is he always in those things?_

"How long have ya known I was in there?" I snorted.

"I knew you were in the area as soon as the scan started."

"Huh, looks like Ah'll need an upgrade for my cloak."

"Cloak?"

"Nevah mind that, right now I think I migh' have a solution for ya." Jazz turned to face Ironhide. "If you wanna get Prowler outta here withou' the Cons knowin,' then you'll have to take her through the Underway."

 _The hell is an Underway?_

* * *

 **Hello my lovely readers,**

 **So the semester has finally ended! My god I can't wait to be able to finally use my days off to sleep in and relax. This semester had been so stressful to me due to a very condescending professor who thought my writing was crap, but thanks to you guys I was able to push through because of the simple fact that there are people out there who actually enjoy what I'm writing and think that it's something worth reading. So thank you, to ever person who Favorited, Followed, Reviewed, and simply visited to read Virtual, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this story and experience this journey with me.**

 **I've been thinking a lot recently you guys. The holidays are coming up soon, and I just saw a picture of my loved one from last year when he was still healthy. It hit me hard to realize that soon he will be gone. I want you guys to do something if you can. Pick up the phone, and let someone that you love, whether it's a family member or a friend, know how much you care for them. There may come a time in your life where you could start to take the people around you for granted, and one day you might have that person snatched away from you before you have the chance to tell them how much they mean to you. So pick up that phone, go to that person if you can, give them a hug and tell them what they mean to you. You never know what could happen in the blink of an eye.**

 **Until next time you guys,**

 **Angel**


	10. Prep Work

It was decided that Jazz and I would travel through the Underway to Iacon in two days time. During which Ironhide was adamant that I trained with him as much as possible until then.

And might I say, he was brutal. After every session, I had to make my way to Livewire so she could fix the dents in my frame only for me to go straight back to Ironhide and gain a few more. I was learning fast though, I could decently hold my own against an attacker if I had to. I don't think I've seen Ironhide look so proud before.

During the night while I recharged I was able to catch Glow up to speed. He was nervous about the thought of me going anywhere near the Underway. Apparently it was some kind of ancient highway under the surface of the planet, intricate bridges and pathways that could take you anywhere you wanted.

He said that during the early days of the Golden Age it was used by companies to quickly and efficiently deliver cargo between the cities. But when the war broke out the Underway was abandoned, forgotten and left to rot.

From what Glow has been able to tell me, many of the roads in the Underway have collapsed under the duress from the bombardments the Seekers used on the Autobots in retaliation to the destruction of their home, Vos.

Not only is there the threat of roads giving way beneath you, but there was also an infestation of Insecticons and Scraplets. _Oh joy, not only do I have to worry about falling to my death but there was also the chance that I would be eaten alive. Jazz, I'm going to murder you when this is all over._

Something odd that I noticed during my time with Glow on the second night was that our bond was weaker, and he couldn't form full sentences like he has been. He told me that he was moving to a safer location, the Decepticons had discovered the safe house he and a few others were currently using. _I hope they make it alright_

It made me wonder that the more distance between us, the weaker our bond became. So what would happen when we gained enough distance from one another? Would our bond break? Or would we simply be unable to communicate until we were close enough again? These questions would haunt me until such a time that my theory would be tested. Sooner than I would have liked.

We leave for the Underway tomorrow. Jazz says that he knows of a road we can use that will take us directly to Iacon. I can only hope that we make it there safely, but then again when have I ever been that lucky?

 **Hey guys, so I know I wasn't able to update on Monday, I thoroughly kicked myself for it by the way, but as you all know one of my loved ones was on Hospice, well he finally passed on, he's no longer in anymore pain and for that I'm thankful. I had a good cry and it's been a little hard to get myself to sit down and write so that's why this update is a little late. I know where I want to go with this story and what will occur as it goes on but I'm having some difficulty getting myself to actually type it up. I'm hoping that by next week I'll be back into the swing of things but if I haven't posted anything by next Wednesday then expect the next chapter to be up the week after.**

 **So in case I'm not able to post anything next week I just want to say Merry Christmas to you guys, and Happy New Year.**

 **Until next time my readers,**

 **Angel**


	11. Not The Bubble!

"Unreasonable."

"Yup."

"Irresponsible"

"Uhuh"

"Irrational."

"Seriously?"

"Illogical!"

"Oh c'mon Prowler, ya can't seriously still be mad at meh." I glared at Jazz, my bent door wing sending sparks of pain through my frame.

"Need I remind you that we are in this situation _because_ of you?"

"How was I supposed to know that last bridge wouldn't support our weight?"

"If you had listened to me in the first place we wouldn't even be here right now."

"Oh, like yor plan was any better?"

"If we had taken that side road and gone _around_ it-"

"And how could you possibly know that side road would hold?"

"Because unlike the bridge, _it's supports were still in place!_ "

"…..Good point."

"Like I said: unreasonable."

"I said I was sorry Prowler."

"Sorry doesn't fix my door wing nor does it get us out of our current predicament." Jazz fixed his gaze upon my wings. They quivered slightly from the pain. Every twitch, every movement, everything made it hurt.

"Let me see yor wing."

"Excuse me?" Jazz huffed. He leaned forward, his face coming closer as I leaned back. Trying to keep some semblance of personal space between us. _Do not invade the bubble!_ My progress was stopped when my wings brushed against the wall behind me. My frame stiffened as my poor wing grazed the wall. Jazz stopped just short of our noses touching. _Not the bubble!_

"Yor wing, Prowler. Let me see it."

"Only if you back away." Jazz's stern gaze softened a bit. He backed off a little, giving me room to turn so he had easier access to my wings. Gentle hands skimmed the edges of the bend in my wing, taking great effort not to cause me more pain.

"Hmm, looks like a medic is gonna have to take care o' this once we get to Iacon."

"Then we might as well get a move on, no sense in delaying any longer than necessary."

"Want me to turn off the receptors I your wing?"

"No, I'll be left half blind otherwise. I can deal with the pain until we reach Iacon." I turned back to face Jazz, brining my wings back up to their usual positions. I pushed the pain to the back of my mind, _I can handle this, I've dealt with way worse._ Jazz look at me, his face filled with concern.

"Yor sure?"

"Positive." He sighed, nodding as we continued on our way in the Underway.

We've been down here for for 3 days now. Jazz says we're halfway there already. I've lost all connection to Glow, our dream scape empty of all company but my own. The distance between had become too great, our connection was broken. I missed him, I missed our talks, his company. I felt lonely when I recharged only to be met with the aching reminder that I may never see my real home ever again. I hope with all my might that once we are near enough that our connection will come back. Until then, I can only hope that Jazz doesn't get us killed down here, speaking of which:

"Jazz, watch where yo-"

"Ack!"

"Step…" _This is going to be a long journey._

* * *

 **Hello my readers,**

 **I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully 2017 will be better than 2016. Fingers crossed . I'm doing much better now, my family and I wanted to say thank you to you all for your kind words and your support during the last few weeks.**

 **I enjoyed writing the banter between Jazz and May/Prowl. It almost seemed to take on a life of its own at one point. I hope you all enjoy the little alone time they're currently sharing. Not exactly cute and fluffy at the moment but it will get there eventually.**

 **Secret (Guest): Sadly Glow is not related to May/Prowl. But that was a really good guess!**

 **Cashagon: I love how your narrowing down who Glow could potentially be.**

 **Mywinx14: I'm sorry for your lose as well, I hope she wasn't in any pain while Hospice was caring for her.**

 **ohmygiddyaunt and Guest: Thank you guys for your kind words, writing for you somehow helps in its own way**.


	12. We're Doomed

"I thought you said that this was a short cut."  
"I said I THINK this is a short cut."  
"You THINK!? We've been walking around in circles for hours now!"  
"Does it look like I have a map of this place?"  
"What it looks like, is that you have absolutely NO idea where we are or how to get out of here."  
"Hey now, I said I was gonna get us to Iacon, and I meant it. It just migh' take us a little longer to get there than I originally though'."  
"At this rate Ironhide and the others are going to arrive before us. Which we wouldn't have to worry about if _somebot_ had remembered to pay attention to where we were going."  
"Oh, so this is my fault now?"  
"YES. Because not only did you suggest that we use the Underway in the first place, but you also said you could get us there quickly and efficiently."  
"So we took a wrong turn, you don't need to get your wings all bent outta-"  
"MY WING IS ALREADY BENT OUT OF SHAPE!"

* * *

"We're lost."  
"No we're not."  
"Yes, we are."  
"No, we're not!"  
"See that collapsed road over there?"  
"Yeah, what of it?"  
"We've passed that bridge four times now."  
"No we haven't."  
"Yes, we have."  
"And how exactly would you know tha'?"  
"You see those tallies on the wall over there?"  
"Yeees?"  
"I've been adding one every time we passed it."

* * *

"How you managed to live as long as you have, I shall never know."  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"That you a horrible sense of direction."  
"Hey!"

* * *

"Jazz..."  
"Wha'?"  
"I think that wall there just moved?"  
"Moved?"  
"Yes, the wall over there, it just moved."  
"No it di-"  
"See!"  
"Oh frag.."  
"What?"  
"Tha's not a wall...tha's a swarm _OF SCARPLETS!_ "  
"OH SHI-"  
"RUN!"

* * *

 **Hey guys, so I've got some news for you. School is going to be starting soon and as such I will need to change the days that I will be posting my chapters. So instead of the usual Mon/Wed updates, I will now be updating either Thurs/Fri/Sat.**

 **Jazzilynn Hall: wow that's a lot of Bots your trying to choose from. I'm sorry to say that none of them are Glow.**

 **Cashagon: That made me laugh so hard, reminds me of how my dad makes fun of my mom for turning the map around to so that the road we're driving on is facing the same direction as the map.**

 **To Jazzilynn and Cash: I'll give you guys a hint on who Glow is in my next author's note if you want.**

 **Secret (Guest): No, Glow isn't Bluestreak. Although it would have been funny if it was.**

 **Lunacaster: That's an interesting concept, but sadly no, they don't. But the bond between Glow, Prowl/May, and (there is a possibility) any other Bots along the way will be serving a major part into why she is stuck in Cybertron.**


	13. He Cares

"So...anybot want to explain to me why it took you so long to get here?"

"Well..."

"Jazz has no sense of direction and is terrible at accepting help."

"No I'm not!"

Firmly planting hands on hips, I turned my attention from Ironhide to concentrate on the directionally challenged mech next to me. "We wouldn't even BE here right now if it wasn't for me."

"You're a pain in the aft you know that?"

"Takes one to know one."

"Oi!"

"ENOUGH! Right now I don't really care whose fault it is." Ironhide shifted his gaze back at me. "All I care about is that your here, and your safe." I gave him a soft smile. It was nice having someone around who worried about my wellbeing. My parents were never the most..loving you could say. They were more concerned about their public image than they were about me. Having Ironhide fuss over me was nice, but part of me still had doubts on why. _He still feels responsible for me. That's all._

"Alright Prowl, your good to go. Make sure she refuels and gets a good cycle of recharge. I want to see her again first thing next orn."

"You got it Ratch. C'mon kid." Ironhide wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me toward the door.

"As for you.."

WHACK

"ACK!"

Eyebrow raised I turned to Ironhide, "Did he just hit Jazz with a wrench?"

"Yup."

"...Is he allowed to do that?"

"No idea, nobots ever tried to stop him so.."

* * *

Once again Ironhide had his own quarters set aside for himself, and me I suppose since he still refused to let me recharge anywhere else. When I asked him if it wouldn't be better for me to recharge elsewhere he got really quiet. His optics had this sad, faraway look to them before he snapped out of it and told me not to worry about it.

These quarters were bigger than the one we shared previously. A small kitchenette connecting to little sitting area, a door off to the right leading to the berthroom with a private bathroom off to the left.  
...How high is Ironhide's rank again?  
I held back a laugh as I took in the decor..guns, lots and lots of guns. What a shocker.

As I laid down on my stomach plating, Ironhide sat next to me on the berth.

"You had me worried kid. Thought you got abducted by the Cons again or somethin'."

"I'm sorry Ironhide. I didn't me-"

"Your safe now, that's all that matters. Just concentrate on getting some recharge alrigh'?"

"Bu-"

"Recharge." He gently started to rub the area between my wings, it felt nice. It was getting harder to keep my optics open. I didn't bother fighting it though; I was exhausted after all the shit I had to deal with in the Underway. Slipping into recharge, I only had one thought running through my mind.

Jazz totally deserved that wrench to the helm.

* * *

 **Like I said before, the poll will stay up until all the way until I finally reveal just who Glow really is.**

 **Until next time my readers,**

 **Angel**


	14. Snuggling With A Mountain

During my recent, and very lonely, nights in the apartment, I had taken to wondering around and taking stock of everything it consisted of. It was almost an exact copy of my home. The only difference being that I couldn't exactly leave whenever I wanted to. Glow was still MIA, but I could just barely feel him again. A small trickle of emotions too jumbled for me to interpret.

He was getting closer, that much I knew. But exactly how far off he was was still a mystery. Flopping down onto the couch I released a sigh.  
I'm so booooored!  
At this point in time all I could do was wait for my frame to finish recharging, until then I would be stuck here counting sheep.  
1 sheep, 2 sheep, 3 sheep, 4 sheep, 5 sheep..this is gonna be a long night.

* * *

I blinked my optics a few times as everything came back into focus. Ironhide was recharging on the berth with me, my ever present guardian and protector. I remember Glow once telling me that family units on Cybertron slept on the same berth, something to do with bonding? _But what does it mean if Ironhide is doing it with me? I mean he seems to care for me a great deal, I know that, but is it to the point that he thinks of me as...family?_

A part of me hoped he did, to the point that it made my spark ache. Shaking my head I focused on the fact that in order for me to actually leave the room I would need to climb over Ironhide... _yippee_. Slowly I pushed myself up, wings flaring to keep me balanced.  
"And just where do you think you're going?" Freezing, my optics slowly shifted to the mountain beside me. He was staring at me with a single optic, the other still closed.  
"...off the berth?" Opening his other optic he gave me a stern look.  
"You're going back into recharge is what your doing." Leveling him with a glare of my own, I fully sat up and crossed my arms.  
"I'm _fine_ , Ironhide." A smile formed on his face.  
"Alright. _" Wait what?_  
"Huh?"  
"Get up, you said your fine. I'm not gonna force you to recharge anymore if you don't need it." _I don't like that look on his face._

"You going to move or am i going to have to climb over you?" He just stared at me, his smile turning a little mishevious. Ohhh I REALLY don't trust that face right now, at all! I giving a little hop over him I landed on the other side of the berth, easing myself onto the ground to make my getaway. That is until an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back down onto the berth. "Hey!"  
Ironhide had pulled me down and... _is he snuggling with me!?_  
"Ironhide, get offa me!" His arm tightened around my waist, pulling me further into his embrace.  
"Just because your not gonna recharge doesn't mean I'm not. Now shush."  
"Bu-"  
"Shush!" Grumbling, I reluctantly allowed myself to become Ironhide's new pillow. We stayed like that for a while. It was kinda nice, peaceful almost. "You know you act more like your frame when your not around others."  
I shifted to look over my shoulder at him.  
"What do you mean?" He grunted.  
"When your around others you try to keep your distance, make yourself look tough. But when it's just us you act your frame. Young. Like you should be. Nobody expects you to act any older than you actually are kid. I almost forget sometimes that your still just a femmeling." I stayed quiet, _I act older?_  
"I..."  
"Hey, don't worry about it. Your not even fully grown yet, all I care about is that you at least get to enjoy your youth as much as possible. So if that means I need to force you into having a play date with Jazz, I _will_." I quietly contemplated what I had just learned. Turning over so I was facing Ironhide, I snuggled deeper into his embrace. I felt him start to rub the spot between my wings again with one hand while the other kept my securely in place.  
"Ironhide?" My voice cracked a little, I felt so small in that moment.  
"Hmm?"  
"...Thanks."


	15. I'll Never Leave You Alone

I must have gone back into recharge at some point because before I knew it I was back in the 'apartment' again. As always it was quiet and lonely. Except...something was different. I just couldn't figure out what. _Wait a second..that's!_  
"GLOW!" sprinting forward I leapt at the giant golden ball. "God, you have no idea how much I've missed you." He chuckled, returning my embrace.  
 **I had heard about your delay in the Underway, I was worried.** I snorted.  
"The only reason we took so long is because Jazz is directionally challenged." I took a moment to revel in the fact that my friend had finally been returned before I allowed myself to separate from him. "And you? No injuries to account for I assume."  
 **I'm alright, we hit a few bumps along the way but we finally reached Iacon.** I paused.  
"Wait, I thought you said you were heading to another safe house?"  
 **We were but we ran into some issues along the way, originally we were to take a more secure and hidden route to Iacon but..well let's just say we ran into some trouble of our own.**  
"So your whole team is here then?"  
 **Yes, we entered the city not long ago, I would assume that that everybot else has gone to their own quarters for some much deserved recharge.**  
 _Glow is here!_ I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the fact I would finally learn just who my friend was. Maybe even why he didn't want me to know his true identity.  
"So that means we'll finally get to meet then? In person I mean."  
 **Yeees...but I...I don't...  
** "Glow?"  
 **You'll get mad at me..you won't be my friend anymore, won't trust me, you'll be different when you find out, won't listen to why I did what I di-  
** "Glow! Easy, just calm down. Why are you so worried about us meeting? I'm your friend I would never do any of that to you. Ever."  
 **I'm sorry..it's just that I haven't had a such a close friendship since I...since before the war.  
** "Well, you won't have to worry about losing my friendship, once you have it, there's no getting rid of me."  
 **May...thank you. It was weird to hear him say my real name. I hadn't heard it in so long that..wait.  
** "For what?"  
 **For being my friend.**  
"I'll always be your friend Glow, no matter what happens or what anyone says. I'll always be here for you."

* * *

 **Hey guys, yes I know. Short chapters everywhere! But I promise once I'm able to get back into a routine with school, work, and home life I'll try to make these longer. First day of school for me, I'm nervous! I thing a public speaking class and I don't wanna go T.T**

 **ANYWAY I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I've also put up a new poll, I'm going to give May/Prowl 2 more bonds. I know for a fact who the second will be with, but faction wise you guys get a say on who the third will be. The poll will stay up for about 2 weeks so go ahead and let yourselves be heard on what you want to see happen next.**

 **Until next time my readers,**

 **Angel**


	16. Spooning With Strangers

Awareness came back slowly, I didn't exactly want to get up. I felt nice and warm snuggled up against Ironhide. But something was off. My back was warm, like there was a blanket over my wings or something. My front was pressed into Ironhide's side, his arm still slung around my waist holding my there, so it wasn't him. I felt movement there. Glancing down at his arm… _Hold on, Ironhide's arm isn't blue._

I slowly turned my head to look over my shoulder. There, recharging oh so innocently, was a white and blue femme. Her helm gently sitting between my wings, arm resting on my waist alongside Ironhide's, her legs cradled mine, almost like she was spooning me. _What the shit!? Who is this lady?_

Turning back to Ironhide I started poking his face. He shifted a little, his arm tightening around me, but other than that he didn't do much else. _C'mon already!_ I poked harder, causing him to grunt. He slowly opened his optics to look down at me.

"Prowl? Wha'z wrong?"

"I'm going to assume that you're aware of the femme that is currently snuggled against my back. If not, then we have a problem." His face scrunched up in confusion. Stretching, he moved to look behind me.

"What are you t- Mia?" His eyes widened as he took in the frame that was currently glued to my back. Slowly, he removed his arm from my waist and helped me to untangle myself from her grasp. "Prowl, think you could hang out with Jazz or somethin'?"

"You sure? I don't mind staying."

"I'm sure, just stay out of trouble."

* * *

I was having difficulty tracking down Jazz, it wasn't easy searching for one specific spark signature among thousands of others. This base was so much bigger than the one we were at before with ten times the amount of bots. _I'm gonna need more practice if I ever want to find anybody around here._

A door off to my left opened, forcing a massive cloud of smoke into the hallway, clogging my vents and blinding me from what was happening. _What the hell?_ My wings flared, picking up the presence of an unknown bot as they stumbled into the hallway. Wings swinging back and forth I was able to clear my line of sight.

The mech before me cleared his throat, scratching the back of his helm with a sheepish look.

"Uhhh..you wouldn't mind not telling anybot what you just saw would you?" Hands resting on my hips I glared at the mech.

"Depends on what it is I shouldn't be telling them."

"It's nothing too serious, I assure you." I gave him a flat look before raising an eyebrow at him.

"If it wasn't serious then you wouldn't be asking me not to tell anybody about it. What the hell were you doing in there?"

"…Science?"

"Is that a question or an answer?"

"And answer?" Sighing I brought up a hand to rub my forehead. _Why can't anything ever be easy._

"Forget I asked, I'll just be going now." Turning away from the mech I started to make my way back down the hall.

"Wait, hold on a click!" Pausing, I looked back. "If your not busy..maybe you could give me a servo with this?"

"With science?"

"Yeah, I mean I would ask my friend but he's busy." _Well….I mean it's not like I have anything better to do. And I don't think I'm going to find Jazz anytime soon either._

"Alright. I'm Prowl by the way."

"Wheeljack, I gotta say it's not often I get bots who so readily agree to help me with my experiments besides Perceptor." I tilted my head to the side.

"Why is that?" He just shrugged before making his way back to the door he had originally come from, me following close behind.

* * *

 **Hello my wonderful readers,**

 **I was originally going to post this chapter yesterday but I got a little sidetracked. I'm working on sewing a costume (my first attempt at this sort of thing, I never knew how complex it would be) for an upcoming convention that's in a few months. So I kinda…got carried away. But I was able to pull myself away from it to sit down and post this chapter.**

 **And by the way, you guys are evil haha. You must really to want to see May/Prowl share a bond with a Con. I'm not any better, I've already narrowed it down to 2 Con candidates to pick from. But hey, the poll is still going to be up for another week so if there is anybody out there that wants her to strictly share her bonds with Autobots then don't b afraid to add your vote.**

 **Until next time my readers,**

 **Angel**


	17. She's Scary

"You could have offlined her you piece of worthless scrap metal! If you ever attempt to use her to help with your experiments ever again I will personally send you to the pit myself you _fragging glitch!_ "

I was currently sitting on a berth in the Med Bay. Ironhide stood behind me with his arms crossed while he glared at the white mech who was currently being given the scolding of a lifetime from Mia.

"I swear I had no idea that the chemicals would react so violently."

"Violently? You vaporized your entire work space! You're lucky she was in that supply closet when it went off." _She sure is scary when she wants to be._ I leaned back a little on the berth that I was currently sitting on. Ironhide was currently standing behind me, arms crossed with an amused look on his face. _He's enjoying this a lot more than he should be._

"Alright Chromia, that's enough. You can continue this later." Ratchet had been working on fixing Wheeljack's hand as 'Chromia' had been giving her nice little speech. Huffing she made her way over to Ironhide and I.

"Are you alright sweetling?" I blinked.

"I am currently unharmed yes." Her optics narrowed.

"Physically yes, I'm talking emotionally. You've been through enough already, and this son of a glitch" she pointed at Wheeljack, who flinched back, "almost offlined you. And don't try to tell me that 'alright' or that your 'fine' because I fragging well know that you're not! He could have taken you from u-"

" _Mia!_ That's enough. Now is not the time nor the place for this." Ironhide had placed his hands on my shoulders, keeping me from folding into myself. My birth mother never scolded me like this. At least not about anything that concerned my personal well being. I don't know whether to be flattered or terrified.

Chromia turned her gaze to Ironhide, optics ablaze.

"She needs to know Ironhide, you can't keep something like this from her. I won't allow it." _What?_

"Not _. Here_." His hold on my shoulders tightened, not enough to hurt but it was enough to let me know just how tense he was. _What hasn't he been telling me?_

"Then let's take this back to our quarters then, shall we?" Chromia turned her gaze back to me, only this time it was a lot softer than it was before. She gently took my hands and pulled me off of the berth, then wrapped her arm around my shoulder as she led me out of the Med Bay. Ironhide slowly made his way behind us. Following at a distance.

 _What was it that they needed to tell me?_

* * *

 **Dear Wonderful Beautiful Readers,**

 **Yes, yet another short chapter. But its not going to be like this forever guys I swear! And sorry for the wait, but like I have said continuously in the beginning: Expect for updates to be sporadic. Especially now, because I'm taking a COMM class. Which is giving speeches for those who don't know. So I'm taking the time to memorize my speeches first and write later...plus the new Horizon Zero Dawn just came out and it is AMAZING! But anyway, I took the time to sit down and write up the next two chapters, which consist of a giant fluffy moment in the next chapter.**

 **I gotta say I love writing Chromia, I feel like she would be a total mama bear. Fiercely protective but extremely loving to those she cares for. And Ratchet shall eventually start throwing wrenches around once I add a certain set of twins into the mix. But that won't come till later. I have BIG plans for those guys in the next arc of my story.**

 **THE POLL! By ONE vote the Decepticons have won! Now, I plan on revealing who Glow is very soon, but at the same time I almost feel like its TOO soon to tell you who he is. I'm going to post a new poll sometime later today, an edited version at least, so any last time thoughts on who Glow could be you can vote it. I'm only going to add those who received the most votes on the last poll though. And between you and me? His true identity is one of options! So sit down, think of the possibilities, consider just who Glow could be. Then think again, cause you might be wrong I don't know.**

 **Until next time my Beautiful Readers,**

 **Angel**


	18. Home

I was currently sitting on the berth back in Ironhide and Chromia's quarters. My wings were held higher than usual; it took everything I had not to fidget. Chromia was sitting next to me and Ironhide had placed himself in front of us. I had my gaze focused on the space between my feet, my hands folded between them. We had been like that for what felt like hours. No one had said anything, and that only cause my anxiety to rise. _What haven't you told me, Ironhide?_

"Prowl…I may have..I haven't been…what I'm tryin' to say is..slaggit Mia stop yor grinnin'! This is hard enough as it already is!" Chromia giggled at Ironhide's awkwardness. I looked between them, my wings drooping as my confusion increased.

"The only reason it's hard is because you never told her in the first place. So don't look at me to pull your fat aft out of the fire." I focused my gaze onto Ironhide.

"What aren't you telling me Ironhide? What is it that you haven't told me?" Ironhide groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Ah pit kid. Look, yor creators they..From what I've seen they didn' take good care of ya. Nor do they seem to prepare ya for…well anythin' an-"

"Oh for the love of Primus, your making this a lot harder than it has to be Ironhide."

"Ya know I'm bad at this slag Mia, so don't you start!"

"Your can be such a sparkling when your dealing with emotions other than rage, you know that?"

"Primus slaggit Mia, not helping!" I jumped up from my place on the berth.

"Will somebody just tell me what the _frag_ is going on already?" They both froze, turning to look at me at me with looks of disbelief. Chromia turned her attention back to Ironhide.

"She's been spending too much time around you Hide." She sighed, "What Ironhide is trying to say, is that we want to become your Guardians Prowl." My wings twitched back up to their original positions.

"My what?" Chromia's gaze was gentle as she stood up from the berth and placed her hands on my shoulders. She was a head taller than me, which forced me to have to look up in order to easily meet her optics with my own. Her smile was so soft and warm. So unlike the distant, cold looks that I had always associated with my mother.

"We want to become your Guardians Prowl. We want to take care of you. Your creators, your Sire and your Carrier, they didn't take care of you like they should have. They didn't show you what it means to have a family. But we can, and we will, but only if you want it. None of this happens without your say. If you don't want us to be your Guardians, then we won't. But we want to Prowl, we want to do this. For you."

I was speechless, Ironhide and Chromia wanted to…adopt me? Is that even the right term for it? They wanted me to join their family, to let them care for me in a way that my own parents never did. It felt too good to be true. I turned my gaze back to Ironhide.

"Is it true?" Ironhide took a deep breath before he pulled me into his arms, hugging me like he did last night.

"Yeah kid, ever since we made it out of that Con brig I…I just…" his arms tightened around me, "For the first time in vorns, we have the chance to do something that doesn't have to deal with this fraggin' war." I tightened my arms around his waist. Chromia came up and hugged me from behind as well. Did I truly want this? Yes. But there would come a time when I would leave and go back to the real world. I would only be setting myself up when I left if did this. _But for once in my life, I can have a family that truly cares for me._

"Yes. _Please_." My voice was quiet and muffled as I snuggled into Ironhide's shoulder. For a moment I feared that they didn't hear me, but then they tightened their hold on, as is they would never let go. I felt safe, cared for, _wanted_. I didn't try to stop or hide the tears that fell from my optics. _I have a_ _ **family**_. _I have a_ _ **home**_ _here._

"Awwww now tha's just sweet Hide. I never knew ya did hugs." Chromia's and Ironhide pulled away a little to look up at the ventilation shaft above the bed. Jazz was currently looking at us with his head sticking out of the vent with a grin so smug that he reminded me Jax. _How in the- How did I not know he was there!?_ I shifted my wings a little, being careful not to hit Chromia. With a jolt I realized that I could barely sense him. My wings drooped a little. I pouted a little on the inside. _Well then, Prowl: 73 Jazz: 1._

"Do you think I could get one to? I'm feelin' a lil left out over here." Ironhide growled, letting go of to run over to the vent, trying to grab at Jazz as he retreated back into the vent.

"I'm gonna shove my cannon up yor aft is what I'm gonna do!" Chromia's simply shook her helm as she tightened her hold on me once more. I had turned in her hold so that she was hugging me from the front instead of behind. Ever so slightly the tips of my mouth moved upward. My wings twitching ever so slightly from my amusement at the mechs in front of us.

My life here was crazier than anything I had ever expected. I was in a world that was not my own, with so many unanswered questions. But this life was now mine, and I wasn't about to let it go without a fight. But one thing trouble me.

What was I going to do if.. _when_ I had the chance to leave and return my human body on Earth?

* * *

 **I couldn't stop going Awww throughout the entire process of writing this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Like I said previously, longer chapters** _ **are**_ **in the works. But keep in mind I work 30 to 40 hours a week and I have a 3 hour class once a week so that sadly doesn't leave a whole lot of free time to just sit down and write. I only actually have 1 day off a week (from both work and school) And THAT day is being dedicated to sewing 2 costumes at the moment.**

 **But let me know what you think guys, I enjoy hearing your thoughts on what's happening! I have the next chapter written but I just have to type it up. But would you guys enjoy another little fluffy chapter with Hide, Mia, and May? Because the next chapter I currently have planned does a little time skip..sorta. It's mostly going to wrap up a few things that are going on all at the same time. Like May's battle computer, her growth spurt, Jazz being an asshat, (my favorite curse word of all time, the actual definition is stupid person lol.) stuff like that.**

 **So until next time my lovely readers,**

 **Angel**


	19. Being a Wallflower Is a Preference

_Why me?_

Chromia had wanted to spend some quality time with me. Without Ironhide. _Shopping._ I never enjoyed doing this with my mother. Always pushing, shoving, and ranting about how I needed to 'stop wearing such plain clothing.' I despised having to listen to her rave about my sense of fashion, or lack thereof. But with Chromia, she adequate this whole experience...interesting to say the least.

"I think maybe we should add a little more black to your frame, it'll accentuate your curves better. Maybe some more on your hips and up along your waist?"

 _My mother_ _ **never**_ _wanted me to show off the 'goods'._ We were currently browsing through one of many stores in Iacon's market district. While the city acted as the main base for the Autobots, it also housed hundreds of neutrals and refugees from around the planet. From what Ironhide had explained to me the city was surrounded on all sides by an energy field to protect the city from Seeker bombardment.

"Chromia?" Her gaze turned upward from where she had been staring intently at my waistline, comparing two shades of black that, at least to me, appeared to be exactly the same.

"What is it sweetling?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea? We don't have t-"

"Of course we do sweetspark! With everything you've been through your paint has started to fade. We're going to get you a new coat and a good waxing while we're here." I opened my mouth to protest. "No buts!" My wings drooped a little, but Chromia gently nudged them back up with the back of her hand as she raised yet another can of paint, this one a silvery white. Clicking her glossa she turned back to the display rack, eyes narrowed and face determined.

"Chromia…I _like_ my paint job. Can't we just, I don't know, renew it?" Sighing she turned back to me.

"But it's just so plain. How do you expect to get any attention when you walk around if you blend into the background?" I averted my gaze from her. _But I like being a wallflower._

"I'm not very fond of being the center of attention. It makes me nervous." Her optics softened as she rested a servo on my shoulder.

"How about this, we won't change your color scheme on one condition." I turned my gaze back to her. "You let me add a little extra paint to your frame, get that wax and then we'll go out for some energon. I know a cute little shop we could go to." Taking a deep intake I nodded.

Chromia decided to keep things simple and added the black paint, a shade called Eternal Darkness apparently, was used to repaint my original frame colors. Along with an additional coating made to the sides of my waist and hips. I felt a little self conscious about it, but I proudly raised my wings and straightened my back. I wasn't about to let others see my discomfort if I could help it.

The waxing felt like a massage, only about ten times more luxurious. Although I did get a little uncomfortable when the femme got to my wings. Chromia ended up snapping at her for it when she noticed how stiff I was. Maybe I was just being sensitive but I didn't like it when strangers touched them, or at least tried to anyway.

We were currently having a mid day refuel at a quiet little shop situated away from the hectic streets of the marketplace. It had a nice view of the Command Tower of the Autobot HQ. It was a nice way to end the day. It would have been nicer if every other bot stopped staring at me though. The good thing was that whenever they continued to stare for too long Chromia would send them a withering glare and send them off with their tails between their legs. It was entertaining at least.

* * *

To say that Ironhide was angry would be an understatement. He raved and ranted to Chromia that I was too young a frame to be walking around with a paint job that drew in the optics. Chromia in turn argued that as their Charge no bot would be either brave or stupid enough to try anything. Lest they wanted a severe beating from the two of them that is. I had simply sat along the side lines, helm glancing between them as if I was watching a tennis match.

It wasn't until I picked up Jazz's signature nearby did things get interesting. After the incident from earlier I had become determined to never allow him to sneak up on me again. Especially when I was having a…well I guess you could call it a tender moment with my new Guardians. While it wasn't exactly a big deal to Ironhide or Chromia, the logical side of my brain kept saying what if. Things like what if he had been a Decepticon? So I was determined to stay aware of my surroundings at all times. It's been working out rather well so far.

As always Jazz entered the room as if he owned the place."Hey Hide, Boss wants t-" He froze. And stared at me, his mouth hanging open, and his visor brightening ever so slightly. "Uhhhh." I tilted my head to the side. Chromia and Ironhide turned their attention to him. Ironhide narrowed his optics at him before walking and smacking him upside the head. Chromia went into a random coughing fit as he did so. Me? I just kept looking at Jazz, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

Grabbing his helm he finished relaying his message to Ironhide. Something to do with filling out documents of some such. I wasn't exactly paying attention. After which he glanced in my direction again before he almost, but not quite, ran out of the room. Ironhide shook his head while Chromia allowed herself a few giggles. I looked towards the both of them, my confusion showing in the slight pinch between my brow plates.

"What just happened?"

* * *

 **Some bonding time between Chromia and May/Prowl. I want these three to have a strong family bond between the them. Hopefully the next chapter is longer. I also apologize for any grammar errors or awkward wording that you might see, I've been typing these on my tablet and it likes to randomly 'auto correct' words. So if you could tell me the error and where exactly it's located in so I can go back and fix them would be greatly appreciated.**

 **Until next time my readers,**

 **Angel**


	20. From Here On Out

The first time it happened was subtle. The second less so. Upon the third I knew something was wrong. The edge of my mind felt a tingle, a soft nudge here, a little tickle there. My spark seemed to flutter each time it happened, and every time I would get the sense that something was trying to talk to me. Communicate somehow. With each passing day the feelings grew stronger. Sometimes they felt muffled, but direct. Others chaotic and expressive.

When I brought it up to Glow one night, he expressed concerns about our bond's growing strength. Was our connection so strong that we could now feel each other when we were awake? Talk even? He had explained the basics to me but seeing as how I never experienced anything like this I didn't know how to respond. Should I tell someone? Could Ratchet do something about it? But if I did tell someone about what was happening, _how would I explain it all?_

"You see, I'm actually a human, an organic so to speak. My consciousness is stuck in a Virtual Reality game called Cybertron where I'm currently trapped in the body of an adolescent and can't log out. I also have a mysterious attachment of some sort to a mech that I've never met before and we now have this _thing_ connecting us, so now we're sharing emotions and I was wondering if you could do anything about that? Oh yeah…and did I mention that none of you are real?"

 _Yeah, that would go over_ really _well with Ironhide and Chromia._

Glow and I had decided that the best thing to do, the only thing we _could_ do, was to leave it alone and see what happens. I'm still worried though. _What does it all mean? Why is this happening to me? To_ us _?_

Glow and I had started practicing with our bond. Testing each other with blocking either our own emotions or each others. I had to admit it was kinda fun. I would be in the middle of practice with Ironhide, and Glow would come out of nowhere and 'tickle' me! The good news is that my poker face was better than ever, the only thing that could hint at any discomfort was a slightest twitch of my wings. Traitors.

But not everything was sunshine and rainbows. Ratchet was becoming overly concerned with what would happen to me once my battle computer activated. Nothing like this had been seen in _ages_. Wheeljack had no idea how it was supposed to even _work._ All we had to go on were rumors, speculations, and theories. None of which helped to settle my mind on what would happen when it finally decided to turn on. Ratchet hoped it wouldn't happen until after my growth spurt, which, by the way was not fun.

My frame was sore from wingtip to pede. It felt like I was being stretched out. Chromia had taken to giving my wings a rub down every night before the three of us laid down for recharge. It helped to an extent at least. Our sleeping arrangements hadn't, nor did it appear that they would ever, change. Every night Chromia would lay closest to the wall as she spooned into me like she did the first night we met. Ironhide always situated himself on my other side as I snuggled into him with one of his arms thrown over both Chromia and myself. They were so protective, even in recharge.

Speaking of protective, Jazz, aka my forever stalker, has kicked up his antics to a whole new level of annoying. Before he would simply try to get the jump on me at least three, maybe four times a day. Now it seemed as though he was _everywhere_. And he wasn't even _trying_ to hide the fact that he was doing it either. I would be strolling down the hall for a quick refuel at the cafeteria and _poof._ There he was, standing in middle of the room with two rations and a stupid grin on his face. How he does it I will never know….actually never mind, I don't think that I _want_ to know. And how in the hell did he know that I liked extra Zinc and Copper in my rations? Not even Ironhide or Chromia know about that.

To make a bad situation worse he always insisted on hanging out in the Rec Room. Why? We barely knew each other, besides I'm more than positive that he has other friends he could hang out with. It's not like I was anybody special or anything. What was interesting about all of these interactions was the fact that whenever any of the mechs in the area came near us his attention would…shift so to speak. He would angle one of his head fins towards the newcomer, but he always kept most of his attention on me. _Why?_ All the while he would throw an arm over the back of my seat with that stupid smirk of his plastered on his face.

Chromia always seemed to enjoy asking me about my interactions with Jazz. She always had this look in her optics, which in turn made me slightly uncomfortable with the situation.

Ironhide had upped my training to a whole new level. He stopped pulling his punches, using more force behind each hit. Aiming to use his height and weight against me in a way that caused me to think fast on my feet. Chromia even took it upon herself to train me in a way that Ironhide couldn't. She started teaching me to use my wings to my advantage during a fight, how to protect them and keep them from harm. My confidence during these sessions grew with every lesson, I was determined to stop being a burden to those around me.

I would stand tall, back straight, wings raised, and I would _not_ back down from a challenge. I would face it head on, knowing that if I _did_ fall, I had people there who would help me get back up.

I am Prowl, and I am _not_ afraid of what the future holds for me.

* * *

 **There's going to be a bit of a time skip for the next chapter, May/Prowl is going to kick aft and take names from here on out. If all goes according to plan the next arc should be…intense? At least I hope so.**

 **Now I just want to give a shout out to Roofscat! They sent me an awesome picture of May/Prowl…in her apartment…with Glow!** _ **It was so stinkin cute!**_ **I loved it, thank you so much! Not once did I ever think that this story would inspire someone to create fan art. I did a little happy dance when I saw it, I may have even released a squeal or two…shut up it was cute!**

 **ohmygiddyaunt: That's exactly what I was going for when I wrote that chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.**

 **Dr. Sparkeater and Cbyte128: I'm trying to make May/Prowl as clueless about Jazz's advances as I can while also keeping it cutely annoying If that makes any sense lol.**

 **And thank you to those who pointed out any grammar errors. I went back to fix them as soon as I saw your reviews!**

 **Until next my readers,**

 **Angel**


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